Night Skies Provide Natural Entertainment

Photographer Bob Wick captures a photo of the milkway as seen spring 2014 above the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.

My gaze followed the smoke as it curled heavenward from our campfire. I quietly stared at the stars scattered across the night sky and a host of memories flooded my mind. Those same stars had shone down on me through the years; while camping in dispersed areas off remote back country roads, as I slept on a 16 foot row boat on the Colorado River weary from a day of working the oars, and as I explored endless miles of winding, sage studded, dirt roads.

As a river guide in the Grand Canyon, I’d become familiar with constellations. On the banks of the Colorado River, the stars and night sky were as much a part of the evenings’ entertainment as the tales the river guides told of their adventures. We’d stretch out on the still-warm sandy beach to gaze up at the stars, to dream and to listen. That’s when I first took note of Orion. There was something about that old archer that I liked; the story of that superlative hunter; his simplistic lines; a constellation that was so easy to see and immediately identify in southern Utah’s clean, clear night skies.

Forest Haven’s Rocking Chairs on the deck of the refurbished guard station, now a quaint cabin rental, is a idyllic place to enjoy star gazing on public lands.

I was entranced with Orion’s beauty again on a cold, crisp January night in 2012, when a friend and I stayed overnight at the quaint, rustic, “Forest Haven” cabin on the Pine Valley Ranger District. As the memory replayed, I couldn’t help but smile remembering that cold winter night we’d spent in the renovated little guard station across from the Pine Valley Reservoir. The little lake was frozen and covered by a hearty snowfall. We had accessed the cabin via cross country skis and reveled in the virtually untouched winter wonderland. In the middle of the night, the cold winter air penetrated the cabin and I ventured outside to retrieve wood to stoke the little, black pot-belly stove. I looked across the untouched snow and caught my breath. Tiny flakes, illuminated only by starlight, sparkled like a million, precious diamonds in the snow. There, in the midst of the forest and the middle of the night the peace of that moment was as palpable as the embers that glowed in the cabin’s tiny stove. I watched my breath rise up in the cold mountain air and was soon gazing at Orion’s beautiful glow. I was spellbound. I drank in Orion’s beauty and cherished the unique bliss of that gorgeous, solitary moment. The night sky was awe-inspiring as bright stars shimmered brilliantly against the darkest night sky I’d ever seen.

I also recalled another precious and memorable night sky experience on the western edges of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument with one of my dearest friends. I had just learned the preliminary news; that the Monument would soon receive recognition from the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) as an “International Night Sky Province”. I edged closer to the dwindling campfire, looked up at the full moon rising just over the jagged ridges of a nearby formation, and was astounded by the beauty of that picture perfect scene—grateful to share that moment with the best company I have ever enjoyed.

Photographer Bob Wick captures a unique view of the Milkyway from the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument. The Monument received recognition as a “Night Sky Province” by the International Dark Sky Association in April 2014

I wondered what the Monument’s Dark Sky Park designation would mean to me and the local community. Soon I discovered that the designation would help the Monument further preserve one of the objects it was originally set aside for; pristine night skies. I also learned that the Monument would further the opportunity for private land owners and visitors to participate as stewards in helping to preserve night skies by encouraging voluntary simplistic modifications to outdoor lighting on structures. Simple measures that help us continue to cherish treasured natural resources; like night skies.